The Emerald Dragon
by Samuri1
Summary: Wairen is a 16 year old boy who grew up in the Northern Water Tribe after being rescued from a sinking slave ship. He is raised as a water bender, but does not have the ability. He finds his true identity and sets out into the world.


Disclaimer: Avatar: the Last Airbender does not belong to me.

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><p>Introduction: The Outsider<p>

The chill of the frozen tundra was blowing through the Northern Water Tribe in the early morning. Luckily the wall of ice had blocked much of the cold. Wairen walked along this barricade in silence. He longed for the days where the sun would shine high in the sky radiating it's heat down past the reaches of the wall where he could bathe in it for the little time he had. However, most days were like this. He sighed to himself. For a member of the water tribe he hated the cold and the ice that was both his home and prison.

Wairen had spent almost most of his life in the Northern Water Tribe. Where he was originally from was a mystery to everyone. About two years before he was born the Avatar, Avatar Korra, had passed away. Many saw this as an opportunity to commit crimes freely to make some money. One group was in the business of slave trading. A slave trade ship had somehow lost its course and crashed amongst the ice glaciers of the North. Many died from the frozen waters, but there were some people, like his parents, who escaped in time to be rescued. Unfortunately the long voyage had weakened them greatly and they passed before they could even get to the city gates to be healed.

With them though survived the one-year-old Wairen. In the few months after the crash the other survivors were shipped off to their homelands, but none took Wairen in as their own. It was by decided the council of the Tribe that they would keep him. Custody was granted to Heng and Shin, a couple that was not able to bare their own children. From that time they raised him as their own, and expected him to act as their own. This meant trying to learn water bending. During the time after the shipped had crashed and his parents had died they had the healers look over Wairen to make sure he would not suffer the same fate as his parents. During this process one of the adept healers took notice of the boys chakra. Although it wasn't for certain, the healer suspected the boy would have the ability for bending.

That was enough to convince everyone that he must attend school for water bending. This was his current destination at the moment. Wairen enjoyed walking more than taking the canals. In the past hundred years modern science had taken away from much of the city's beauty. Most of the houses were metal and unchanging, blemishing the white and blue blanket that covered the land. The canals were polluted, and the greed of government had taken over giving poverty and crime to the lower classes. The only things that stood timeless were the wall of ice and the Spirit Oasis.  
>Wairen had left his dwelling of metal early to try and avoid any interaction with people, and was almost to his destination. His plan had however failed.<p>

"Hey Wairen! Catch!"

He turned around quickly to the source of the noise. The use of his name was never a good sign, and this was no exception. The boy who had called his name had thrown a snowball in Wairen's direction. Wairen lifted his arms together in front of him. He concentrated on the whizzing ball of snow towards him trying to move his chakra to be able to catch it without actually touching it. The ball of snow refused to slow or be hindered in any way. Wairen concentrated harder, but still nothing. The snowball went right by his arms to smack directly into his face.

A roar of laughter erupted where they other boy had stood. A small audience of his classmates had gathered to witness his failure. Despite all his efforts Wairen was unable to even move a drop of water in his 15 years of living here and training. It was a wonder why they kept trying to teach him when it obviously wasn't working. He already knew the answer to that though. The family he had been given to had some political stature and thought it unseemly not to be able to water bend. They had looked down on non-benders as lower class and refused to be affiliated with such. They were already stuck with Wairen though so they tried to make due. There were times where he maybe thought they had made a mistake, but he could not shake off the feeling he would sometimes get. There would be moments where he could feel the chakra move in his body like it was trying to be freed, trying to react.  
>This was one of those times. The anger that swelled up in him created such an energy that his laughing classmates seemed to feel it to and scattered quickly. One of the few useful things the water bending classes taught him was the ability to feel his own chakra and manipulate it somewhat. It took a while, but he was able to quench the energy flowing through him. By this time however he was going to be late for school. Even with running the whole way he still ended up being late.<p>

"Well, well. You didn't fall into the canals did you?" Spat the teacher accusatively.  
>Another roar of laughter from the crowd at Wairen's expense.<br>"I'm sorry I'm late. Won't happen again" Wairen said hanging his head.  
>"Better not be, or I will make sure to send you into the canals myself! Now take your seat. You'll be spending your break at the wall."<p>

Silently Wairen headed towards the back of the class where he was the only one to have an assigned seat at. Like every other day he would spend class in silence. The wall was reserved for the kids who broke the rules and had to spend it standing back against the wall watching everyone else enjoy their half hour break. This little punishment was very frequent for Wairen. It would be for simple things too. Like failing to do simple water bending exercises or even from trying to defend himself from the onslaught of attacks from his classmates.  
>Ignoring what the teacher had been lecturing about Wairen took out the water-bending manual. It was a book that contained the illustrations of old water-bending scrolls with added text to help teach the style. Despite his inability to actually perform water bending he was by far the most knowledgeable. His form was elegant. The martial arts portion of his class was the only thing he really excelled at. During his normal classes about math, history, and science he would continue studying in some hope of unlocking a piece of understanding he thought he was missing to be able to water bend.<p>

Before he knew it, it was time for break. For Wairen it seemed odd to give kids their age a break, but he wasn't going to start complaining. Wordlessly he went to the courtyard and passed the awaiting teacher and took his place at the wall. To him it felt like he was lining up for a firing squad. The other kids took their precious time in the open air to harass him constantly. Often it would end up him being in more trouble. After that mornings snowball to the face he was already done with their taunting.

"It's to bad you're stuck on the wall of shame. We were actually going to invite you to a game." One girl said sarcastically.  
>" Not that you would be good at it anyways. With your handicap and all." Another girl chimed in.<p>

At the last part she pointed to him. Wairen knew exactly what she meant.  
>He continued to be silent. Looking at the teacher hoping that any mercy she had would let her free him form this unnecessary ridicule. She only smirked at him and left to go watch over some other kids that were making trouble on the other side of the courtyard.<p>

This seemed like the perfect chance to get away. He knew if he left he would most likely get in more trouble later, but he was not in the mood today to take their crap. Keeping his eyes on the teacher he shifted his feet slightly getting ready to run. One of the other students seemed to notice what Wairen had been planning and quickly used his water bending to freeze Wairen's feet in place. Since Wairen was to concerned with getting away he was not able to notice in time to get out of the way. He struggled in place trying to free his feet. Anger rose up in him again.

"What kind of students would we be if we just let our classmate skip out on their punishment?" The student asked rhetorically.

Wairen was speechless at this point. All he could think was, "_How can I get out? How do I escape, How do I get FREE?"_ Like that morning the other students felt the rage he was emitting, but arrogantly felt safe since they were at school with a teacher near by. Unlike early though Wairen could not contain himself. The energy that was building up could not be quenched. He hardly noticed though as he just kept thinking about his feet. The energy moved to his line of thought. More remarks came from his classmates, but were ignored as his mind spiraled out of control. He didn't even notice that the ice that imprisoned his feet started melting. It weakened and cracked until suddenly it burst apart. Wairen had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that he was free and only had revenge on his mind. Lunging forward towards the student that had temporarily imprisoned him Wairen could only think of all the years of failure he had and the shit he received because of it. He raised his arm getting ready to punch his target, the energy he still had flowing through his body also up into his arm. The student ran back in fear and tripped. Luckily he had fallen. For when Wairen released his arm the energy released with it erupting into a ball of fire where his target's head had just been a second ago.

There were a few screams in surprise, but that did not compare to the silence that followed. Wairen was frozen in place by his own confusion. _"Why was there fire? Did that really come from me? It couldn't….I'm a water bender. Aren't I?"_. Since his origin was unknown it was always a possibility he was something other than a water bender. The thing was though he was always told he was supposed be a water bender. That he was supposed to be part of their family and a part of the Northern Water Tribe. It had been ingrained in him that he was what they wanted him to be. What he had done right then had felt more like himself than anything he had experienced living in the Northern Water Tribe. It was only until his teacher had grabbed him by the collar and started dragging him from the growing crowd did he snap out of his own mind. He was guided into a near by empty room in the school and was locked in. Wairen was glad to have some time alone. He skipped all the thoughts of what had happened over the years and turned his attention to a certain question. "_What now?"_ He was a fire bender living in the Northern Water Tribe. _"Will they just let me be now and live my life like a normal person?"_. The only reassuring thought was that he was a bender at all which would hold him at least a little higher in their minds.  
>After a while the sounds of his guardians could be heard outside the door. They weren't hectic or even worried tones. It seemed more like normal conversation to Wairen.<p>

_"Maybe I'm just thinking to much of all of this." _He said to himself.

The faces on their faces when they entered only made him worry more. It was one of delight. This was a face he had never seen of them and never towards him. There were no congratulations to have though.

"Head home and pack your things. There is a ship leaving tonight that you need to be ready for." Shin said nonchalantly.

Wairen stared at them confused. "Uh, what?" He had no idea why she was talking about a ship.

"A ship is leaving for the Fire Nation tonight. You are going to be boarding it where it will bring you to a boarding school. By the time you get there all the arrangements should be set up." Heng stated.

None of this really helped Wairen's understanding of the situation, but he just nodded and left the room to go home. He was so distracted by his own thoughts that he almost walked straight into the canal outside the school. It took a while for their words to sink in. He was going away to a boarding school in the Fire Nation. He was leaving the Northern Water Tribe. He was free. That word made him stop in his tracks. It was something he could never truly understand without experiencing for himself. Now he would be able to. A smile appeared on Wairen's face. Suddenly he was off in a hurry. Elation replaced where anger usually was as he shoved everything else in the back of his mind. It didn't take long for him to pack every thing he needed. There were no personal items he would have wanted to take. After he was done packing he stood in the middle of the room. No sense of nostalgia or any sadness was found. There were many times where he thought of leaving, but being in the middle of a frozen tundra made it difficult for a kid his age to just leave on his own with the prospect of living. The sounds of his guardian's were soon heard again. Wairen stepped out of his room to see them for what would probably the last time for a while, if not ever.

"You'll be attending one of the best fire bending based schools in the Fire Nation. I expect you to behave. You will be representing this family and need to just lay low. Understand?" Heng said without looking to him.

Ignoring his comment, "How long am I going to be there for?" Wairen asked.  
>"Until you graduate of course." The wife chimed in.<p>

This gave Wairen more joy than it should have and it was difficult not to express it in front of his guardians. There didn't seem to be anything else they had wanted to say to him. So he turned to the door to leave. Before he left however, he turned back to them for the last time.  
>"Thank you."<p>

His appreciation seemed to fall on deaf ears. After that it wasn't difficult for him to shut the door and not look back as he made his final walk through the Northern Water Tribe towards the docks. It wasn't hard to find the ship, as it was the only one currently docked. The smoke erupted from it's top signaling the imminent leave. There was only one guard that stopped him briefly only to confirm Wairen's identity. Taking a deep breath, Wairen stepped into the dark ship to to begin his voyage a new life.


End file.
